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"Looks like shit. But saves my life" – German government’s helmet advert sparks sexism row

Ad shows model dressed in just helmet and bra

An advert promoting the use of cycle helmets in Germany has sparked a sexism row since it features a woman dressed in her underwear.

The advert, from the country’s transport ministry, carries the strapline “Looks like shit. But saves my life.”

It shows a woman – according to AFP, a contestant in the reality TV show Germany’s Next Top Model – wearing a cycle helmet and a bra.

The advertising campaign is due to be launched on Tuesday, but the women’s wing of the SPD political party – a partner in the country’s ruling coalition – have urged transport minister Andreas Scheuer to pull it.

The women’s wing's chairwoman, Maria Noichl, said: “It is embarrassing, stupid and sexist for the transport minister to be selling his policies using naked skin.”

Germany’s family minister, SPD member Franziska Giffey, also called on the transport minister to halt the campaign.

She posted a photo of herself with her bike and a helmet on Facebook with a caption that read: "Dear Andreas Scheuer: fully dressed also goes well with a helmet!"

However, a spokesman for the transport ministry commented: "A successful road safety campaign should jolt people and can be polarising."

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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22 comments

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hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
1 like

Everyone seems very quick to assume the models' genders.

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JF69 | 4 years ago
0 likes

Disgraceful way of shirking responsibility in providing safe cycling infrastructure, enforcement & legal responsibility (top in the safety priority list) by the relevant German authorities: blame it on helmets, which are at the very bottom of the safety priority list.

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JF69 | 4 years ago
2 likes

Disgraceful way of shirking responsibility in providing safe cycling infrastructure, enforcement & legal responsibility (top in the safety priority list) by the relevant German authorities: blame it on helmets, which are at the very bottom of the safety priority list.

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vsmith1 | 4 years ago
0 likes

Helmet won't save them from gravel rash!

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Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
3 likes

If bibshorts do not count as underwear, then why am I not dead?

Or is this about helmets?

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jh27 replied to Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
1 like
Mungecrundle wrote:

If bibshorts do not count as underwear, then why am I not dead?

Or is this about helmets?

But are bib shorts under wired? Maybe the underwear needs to be under wired to save your life? Or perhaps they aren't talking about the helmet or the underwear. Maybe it was a mis-translation and they are referring to the Bulgarian Airbags, they meant to say "tits" not "shit"? https://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/03/bulgarian_airbags/

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rjfrussell | 4 years ago
1 like

I love the fact that they have a political party named after a type of pedal.  Are the opposition the SPD-SL?

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Blackthorne replied to rjfrussell | 4 years ago
2 likes

rjfrussell wrote:

I love the fact that they have a political party named after a type of pedal.  Are the opposition the SPD-SL?

The Egg Beaters, a short lived movement by the brothers Crank, failed to garner much of a support base, and Speedplay demanded too much sole searching to stand up for. So far the opposition with the biggest platform is the Flat, although its members have a tendency to bail when the going gets rough. 

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Bill H | 4 years ago
4 likes

The important thing is that you're now discussing polystyrene hats and not wondering why the gov't hasn't copied what they're doing over the border in the The Netherlands.

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cdamian | 4 years ago
1 like

The minister who only recently decided to ignore all numbers of reducing deaths on the Autobahn by introducing a speed limit. Like the rest of the world.

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burtthebike | 4 years ago
2 likes

It hardly matters if it's sexist if it isn't accurate, and as BTBS has posted, the statement that it saved a life would probably fail the German equivalent of the ASA rules.

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brooksby replied to burtthebike | 4 years ago
3 likes

burtthebike wrote:

It hardly matters if it's sexist if it isn't accurate, and as BTBS has posted, the statement that it saved a life would probably fail the German equivalent of the ASA rules.

Maybe we've got this all wrong: maybe the model is talking about her bra...

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BehindTheBikesheds | 4 years ago
9 likes

From a government that ignores that its cycle KSI rate is much worse than the UK and also ignores that since helmet wearing became a thing hasn't changed matters whatsoever and as per everywhere else has worsening figures compared to peds and motor vehicles Cycle daily trips have dropped by 10% to 2016 (3.4 to 3.1) whilst the number killed has remained steady since 2010, overall road deaths have fallen by 13% over the same period, so everywhere else road deaths are dropping by greater than that if you exclude people on bikes, it's a shocking indictment of the German government's focus on safety ... and now this bullshit!

In 2017, 382 (2016 = 393) cyclists died on Germany's roads,  with over 79,000 reported injuries (serious and minor), that's worse than the UK, despite the huge increases in helmet wearing AND the thousands of miles of infrastructure that seperates cyclists. But yeah, continue to focus on helmets.

Going by the German gov stats, when a cyclist was injured by an LGV?HGV the driver was 80% to blame, with motorcars it was 75%. and as we know that's from the bias view of police who time and again prove they have inherrent bias even in so called independent investigation. Clearly those killed and have serious head traumas from HGVs and motorcars are going to be saved and yet we know that's yet more lies.

Wonder when the German gov are going to put ads about girls/ladies wearing anti rape devices as it'll stop them from being raped ... feckers!

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brooksby | 4 years ago
8 likes

I think they ran out of room for the rest of the advertising slogan:

"Looks like shit; might possibly save my life if I have a particular type of accident under certain very very specific circumstances"

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Hirsute | 4 years ago
2 likes

The campaign could well be sexist if it is not balanced - more images of the woman on billboards, more women than men as shown in post 1.

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iusedtobeagoat replied to Hirsute | 4 years ago
5 likes
hirsute wrote:

The campaign could well be sexist if it is not balanced - more images of the woman on billboards, more women than men as shown in post 1.

You sir, or madam, are why this world is getting less and less tolerable by the day.
So by your definition, is it also racist as there are less black people than white? Given the large Turkish community in Germany,where are they in this campaign? Also these people all look to be roughly the same age, where are the children or over 50s...ageism right there!
Let's not forget it is definitely against the handicapped...not a disabled person in sight of any description.
Perhaps everything should be fully representative of everything all the time?
Stop being a PC, plaudit seeking imbecile and focus on a few things that actually matter, rather than pandering to the common modern narrative of men VS women which only serves to distract us from either something quite useful or the bigger picture plays. Follow your logic through to its conclusion and I'm sure you'll soon realise you are a total shart.

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jh27 replied to Hirsute | 4 years ago
3 likes
hirsute wrote:

The campaign could well be sexist if it is not balanced - more images of the woman on billboards, more women than men as shown in post 1.

Don't you mean "a different number of men and women"? Or is it only sexist if there are more images of women? Does it have to be an equal number or should it be 51% female? Or should there be equal to the ratio of male to female cyclists (does it relate to cycling? I don't see any cycles - maybe I'm distracted by the scantily clad women)? Or the ratio of KSIs (by head injury).

If these people's lives are saved by wearing cycle helmets with their lingerie, does that mean they are having collisions? Should they not be covered in bruises and road rash? Maybe they don't have any clothing, because it all got damaged when they came off their bikes? It raises so many questions, the biggest one being... Why is the advert written in English, when it is paid for by the German government?

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Sriracha | 4 years ago
4 likes

The campaign does not discriminate, it uses images of both sexes, so fails the definition of sexism. The media coverage and politcal posturing focuses on one image only, exemplified by your own headline. That is sexist.

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Stuk | 4 years ago
13 likes

I look forward to the driver focused leg of the campaign “Drives like shit. Endangers my life”.

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Hirsute | 4 years ago
11 likes

Saves me from broken limbs, pelvis, punctured lung and internal organ damage.
Fantastic!

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Rich_cb | 4 years ago
6 likes

The campaign features male and female models in their underwear.

I'm sure we'll all have fun arguing about helmets anyway but this campaign is not sexist.

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jazzdude replied to Rich_cb | 4 years ago
0 likes

Rich_cb wrote:

The campaign features male and female models in their underwear. I'm sure we'll all have fun arguing about helmets anyway but this campaign is not sexist.

 

It is sexist because the men are topless but the women aren't. Seriously though it looks ridiculous. Why not just have them wearing cycling kit?

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